GORA (Basketball Champions League) - Partizan needed overtime but won for third time in a row in the Basketball Champions League on Tuesday night with an 81-80 triumph at Stelmet Zielona Gora in Poland.

Deprived of four key figures in the team through illness or injury, including Gameday 9 MVP Novica Velickovic and head coach Aleksandar Dzikic, the men from Belgrade prevailed for the sixth time on the season and enhanced their chances of reaching the Play-Offs.

Partizan piled on the agony for Stelmet Zielona Gora (4-6), too. They won both of their encounters in Group E by a combined three points.

Partizan trailed in a tight game most of the way and the basketball gods seemed to be smiling on the hosts when Branoslav Ratkovica missed from the right corner in the waning seconds with his Partizan team trailing by two.

The ball went out of bounds off Zielona Gora, however, and Partizan stand-in coach Nenad Canak called timeout.

When play resumed, Ratkovica passed to Stefan Bircevic as Serbia's Rio de Janeiro Olympics silver medalist got into the lane and he made a lay-up to tie contest.

A little more than a second still remained and after a timeout by the home team, with the ball advanced, Poland international Przemyslaw Zamojski caught the inbounds pass and attempted a potential game-winner from the wing but the Stelmet Zielona Gora man only drew iron and the contest went to overtime.

Again Zielona Gora had the upper hand in the final seconds of the extra period when another Poland international, Lukasz Koszarek, drew a foul and went to the line but he made just one of two attempts.

William Hatcher attempted a game-winner for Partizan just to the left of the free-throw line but missed, however the ball went out of bounds off the home side with a couple of seconds left.

Again Partizan inbounded the ball underneath their own basket and got a lay-up, this time from 22-year-old Adin Vrabac, and held on for a narrow victory.

Mihajlo Andric, like Velickovic, missed the game through injury for Partizan while Dzikic and small forward Frank Robinson were unavailable due to the flu.